Opening coconuts

[islesgirl]

Hi all,
Does anyone have any particular tips as to the best, easiest way to open the brown coconuts? I wish I could get hold of the baby coconuts, but that is doubtful. I live in Ontario. I have a daughter living in Toronto but we don't get together often enough for me to have the fruit on a regular basis. I wonder if we can buy "Durian" in Toronto also? I am going to try a little Asian grocery store that we have here in Brantford. Also I will ask some of the stores if they could order them. Has anyone ever had success with getting that kind of cooperation -making special orders of new products? I just love this board and if I ever get 2 seconds of free time I'm going to start journaling. I have been trying to grow sprouts. They took all week. But I had some in my eggless salad today and they were pretty good. Got a few little stones in them I think. Yikes! Poor teeth! But I'll keep practicing. I can't wait to get my VitaMix and the instruction book they forgot to put in the box with my dehydrator. I am also trying to exchange my juicer, the Green Star, for the Omega 8003, which I think I will really like better. I feel like everything is up in the air and I can't wait 'til I really get into this and don't have to do anymore shopping for "stuff". No excuse, I guess, but I need to feel organized. Thanks for listening and have a good day everyone.

[subbacultcha]

I can only get the brown coconuts also.

The way I do it is:

Get a (clean! I dunk it in boiling saltwater) nail and, holding the coconut upright, use a hammer to drive it into the 3 dents on the top of the coconut.

Turn the coconut upside down and drain the water into a glass or jug.

When the water is drained, wrap the coconut in an old towel and place it on its side on a surface. Whack it with a hammer, several times, with force, in the same place and it should crack. If it's not broken clean in half then whack it a bit more until it does.

Then I use a spoon or knife to prise the inner shell apart from the outer shell. Then I use a vegetable peeler to peel off the brown skin.

Works for me!

[tiggerbounce]

If I were eating a brown coconut I would take a drill to it and then pop a straw in to drink it. Then give it a good whack on the sidewalk to break it apart and get the flesh out of it. I eat the thai coconut though. I tried them 3 times before I liked them!:o Now I adore them!:D

You will most likely only find durian frozen. The shelf life is far to short for them to be shipped any other way. I would try one before ordering a case of them. It seems to be a love-hate thing. Either you love it or you hate it. Not many middle grounders that I have seen. But I believe there are different ones and some are better than others...so don't give up completely. And of course, they are better during certain seasons, although I do not know when that is.

I have no trouble getting my grocer to order me cases of things that are not usual. But every store owner will be different about that. Be prepared to pay for the entire case though if it is something out of the ordinary.

Good luck!

[deegarry]

http://video.about.com/chinesefood/How-to-Open-a-Coconut.htm

[Madeleine.Blythe]

lol......I live on residence.. and I swear the person below me must have thought I was crazy! lol.. I banged it on the floor sooo many times, it was hilarious... It didn't open, though!!

I used a cork-screw and punctured a hole in one of the groves in the top... drank the water with a straw (soooooo delicious!!), and then banged it again.. by hollowing it out, it really helped. :)

lol.. my method might not have been the best, but it worked. :P

[DavidZaneMason]

I've been doing this for a while now. The best way (in my opinion) is just to hold the thing in your hand....over the sink....hit at a downward angle with the claw end of a hammer....repeatedly.......going around the coconut.....until the shell cracks.....along lines......and just opens and breaks lose. Do it over a bowl if you want to save the water.......then just keep rapping until you have most of it free.

-The pieces that do not come free.......can be taken.....and the tip of a butter knife worked between the meat and the shell....then twisted...to pop the meat free.

-Give it a try and let me know.

-David Z. Mason